FIRST DAT.] PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 9 



and its object the same : but that kind of it requiring 

 most art may be said to characterise man in his highest 

 or intellectual state; and the fisher for salmon and 

 trout with the fly employs not only machinery to 

 assist his physical powers, but applies sagacity to 

 conquer difficulties; and the pleasure derived from 

 ingenious resources and devices, as well as from active 

 pursuit, belongs to this amusement. Then, as to its 

 philosophical tendency, it is a pursuit of moral disci- 

 pline, requiring patience, forbearance, and command 

 of temper. As connected with natural science, it may 

 be vaunted as demanding a knowledge of the habits of 

 a considerable tribe of created beings fishes, and the 

 animals that they prey upon, and an acquaintance with 

 the signs and tokens of the weather and its changes, 

 the nature of waters, and of the atmosphere. As to 

 its poetical relations, it carries us into the most wild 

 and beautiful scenery of nature, amongst the moun- 

 tain lakes, and the clear and lovely streams that gush 

 from the higher ranges of elevated hills, or that make 

 their way through the cavities of calcareous strata. 

 How delightful in the early spring, after the dull and 

 tedious time of winter, when the frosts disappear and 

 the sunshine warms the earth and waters, to wander 

 forth by some clear stream, to see the leaf bursting 

 from the purple bud, to scent the odours of the bank 

 perfumed by the violet, and enamelled, as it were, 



